


Aziraphale, Neoliberalism, and the Conflict Between Ideology and Morality

by regencysnuffboxes (malicegeres)



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: (i'm an anarchist not a marxist but for the sake of metadata people are gonna search for that), Character Analysis, Ideology, Marxist Analysis, Marxist Reading, Meta, Morality, Neoliberalism, Other, Political Analysis, Political Reading, i'm a fucking librarian i should be way better at metadata but here i am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 00:42:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19140148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malicegeres/pseuds/regencysnuffboxes
Summary: A political analysis of Good Omens.





	Aziraphale, Neoliberalism, and the Conflict Between Ideology and Morality

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of meta I did on Tumblr that I was very proud of and decided you'd have to all look at forever. Original post [here.](https://crowleyraejepsen.tumblr.com/post/185354995288/please-tell-me-about-aziraphales-neoliberalism) The tone is super informal and I didn't cite a single bit of historical evidence for the CIA stuff but, like, what is this, school? Fuck that. Google it if you don't believe me. Enjoy!

We all like to talk about what a bitch Aziraphale is, and I personally am a ridiculous person who likes to joke about Aziraphale being a hopeless neoliberalism in contrast to Crowley's far more class-conscious views. But, like, it's not actually that much of a joke when you really look at things. Aziraphale's politics, such as they are, do have a lot of parallels to human neoliberalism, but deep down in his heart I don't think he actually is one. And the conflict between Aziraphale's politics and what he actually feels are what I think makes him such an interesting character.

Before we really get into it, I’d like to clear up what I mean by neoliberalism because admittedly I throw it around in the same confusing way a lot of leftists do to mean “obnoxious behavior by centrist liberal capitalists.” And assuming you’re American, “liberal” might also confuse you very much. So for the purposes of this essay, I am defining neoliberalism as a philosophy that promotes the marriage of free market capitalism and democratic government. Neoliberalism favors individualism to the exclusion of ideas like systemic poverty or racism, and it is often used to justify profit-seeking atrocities such as war and imperialism.

It’s a really big concept to grasp and unfortunately it’s the system we all currently live under, so to learn more I strongly encourage you to check out PhilosophyTube’s excellent series, [“What Was Liberalism?”](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvoAL-KSZ32e9ziASGC8ZWwrvV4fEXoRj) It breaks the whole thing down very nicely in digestible ten-minute chunks, and all of his videos are well-sourced with further reading linked below.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s start in the very Beginning (a very good place to start.)

> “You can’t second-guess ineffability, I always say. There’s Right, and there’s Wrong, if you do Wrong when you’re told to do Right, you deserve to be punished.”

This scene is a perfect illustration of the conflict between Aziraphale’s ideology and his morality. He delivers this line to Crowley, the literal Serpent of Eden and a possibly quite recently fallen angel who’s just pulled off Original Sin, with the full knowledge that he just gave the sword assigned to him by Heaven to Adam and Eve because they looked cold. He justifies the decision to kick Adam and Eve out, because that was Right and what Adam and Eve did was Wrong, but he gives them the sword because leaving two vulnerable humans to fend for themselves in a frightening new world is wrong according to Aziraphale’s conscience.

So, what does Aziraphale’s ideology look like in practice? This, I think, is the clearest example:

> People couldn’t become truly holy, he said, unless they also had the opportunity to be definitively wicked.
> 
> Crowley had thought about this for some time and, around about 1023, had said, “Hang on, that only works, right, if you start everyone off equal, okay? You can’t start someone off in a muddy shack in the middle of a war zone and expect them to do as well as someone born in a castle.
> 
> Ah, Aziraphale had said, that’s the good bit. The lower you start, the more opportunities you have.

I mean this is just neoliberalism rearing its ugly head in full force, isn’t it? Whether you get to Heaven or Hell is a matter of  _personal responsibility_ , and fuck you if you need to kill and steal to make it from one sunrise to the next. If it’s a choice between sinning and dying then you’d better do the latter, and decrease the surplus population. At least they’ll go to Heaven, right? Replace “at least they’ll go to Heaven” with “at least they were free to live or die by their own choices under our liberal capitalist democracy” and there you have it. Systemic racism and poverty aren’t an issue, you have free will and that’s enough to judge you on.

The other really, really neoliberal thing about Aziraphale is the sorts of behavior he tends to forgive in humans if it furthers along Heaven’s agenda:

> “I thought your side disapproved of guns,” said Crowley. He took the gun from the angel’s plump hand and sighted along the stubby barrel.
> 
> “Current thinking favors them,” said Aziraphale. “They lend weight to a moral argument. In the right hands, of course.”
> 
> And, of course, there are the sorts of humans Heaven is apparently allowing to be armed.“Maybe some terrorists—?”
> 
> “Not one of ours,” said Crowley.
> 
> “Or ours,” said Aziraphale. “Although ours are freedom fighters, of course.”
> 
> “I’ll tell you what, said Crowley, scorching rubber on the Tadfield bypass. “Cards on the table time. I’ll tell you ours if you tell me yours.”
> 
> “All right. You first.”
> 
> “Oh, no. You first.”
> 
> “But you’re a demon.”
> 
> “Yes, but a demon of my word, I should hope.”
> 
> Aziraphale named five political leaders. Crowley named six. Three names appeared on both lists.

During the Cold War, the United States was infamous around the world and particularly in Latin America for deposing political leaders who even thought the word socialism in favor of fascists, because at least fascists were ideologically opposed to communism. A fascist in power was a win against the Soviet Union, which somehow made it a win for freedom. The United States also quite famously funded the group that would become Al Qaeda during the Afghan-Soviet war, also because they opposed the communists, and that of course later bit the USA in the ass in a big way in 2001.

What I’m saying is, Heaven’s doing That to oppose Hell and Aziraphale is helping them. The only difference is that, unlike Heaven, the US, or the Soviet Union, Hell isn’t pretending they’re funding their own terrorists and despots for any reason except to gain power and be evil.

But, okay, let’s talk for a minute about Hell. Specifically, let’s talk about Crowley. Because Crowley, I think, is where Aziraphale’s ideology starts to chip away and make room for his personal morality. Aziraphale does sometimes talk like Crowley is properly evil; he says Crowley couldn’t possibly understand the feeling of love, he makes a show of not trusting him when they’re putting their cards on the table in the quote above, all that sort of thing. But then he points it out to Crowley when he’s done something good or kind, and as much as he makes a fuss about it he does let Crowley go second when they name names. Because Crowley’s the one who’s always there poking at Aziraphale’s ideology. Aziraphale’s ideology is Heaven’s ideology, and whatever Crowley says about not meaning to fall it’s clear that he has well and truly rejected the idea that Right is actually right and Wrong is actually wrong. And Aziraphale recognizes a bit of himself in that.

So, what is Aziraphale’s morality? I think it’s a combination of measured self-interest and gut-level, heart-over-head compassion for people. In the Beginning he gives away his sword, and by the end, by the time he’s fully committed to saving the world despite the fact that ending the world is Right and he’s lost his shop and his body and he’s possibly about to lose everything else because Metatron and Beelzebub are right there doing a good job convincing Adam that ending the world is his destiny, Aziraphale stands up and says, “Excuse me.” And then he proceeds to rip into the Great Plan he’s spent so long trying to serve, because his morals have finally conflicted with his ideology and of course his morals are going to win out.

And you could argue that standing up and saying what he says is a selfish act on his part to save the world because that’s where he can get good food and it’s where he keeps his stuff, and I think that’s partly true, but there’s also this to consider:In the jeep, Crowley was cursing. Aziraphale laid a hand on his shoulder.

> “There are humans here,” he said.”
> 
> “Yes,” said Crowley. “ _And me_.”
> 
> “I mean we shouldn’t let this happen to them.”
> 
> “Well, what—" Crowley began, and stopped.
> 
> “I mean, when you think about it, we’ve got them into enough trouble as it is. You and me. Over the years. What with one thing and another.”
> 
> “We were only doing our jobs,” muttered Crowley.
> 
> “Yes. So what? Lots of people in history have only done their jobs and look at all the trouble  _they_  caused.”

So Aziraphale believes in the Great Plan, in Right and Wrong, until it’s too distasteful for him to keep on believing in it. He’s a goddamn neoliberal and a hypocrite, but when it really, truly counts his heart is in the right place and he knows how to follow it.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at [crowleyraejepsen](https://crowleyraejepsen.tumblr.com)!


End file.
